Art is at the heart of the new Royal United Hospital Cancer Centre and was at the heart of our event.

We gathered a collection of fine art for auction, curated with a focus on prominent, contemporary artists with a connection to Bath. All proceeds went to the Cancer Care Campaign at the RUH.

Ten artworks went in a live auction on the evening. There was also a silent auction of 28 more artworks which wasopen to the public. Our Live Auction artworks are introduced below, please click here to download a PDF of the full catalogue.

Artist Paul Roberts has kindly donated a portrait commission with a value of £10,000 — £15,000 to be auctioned in aid of the RUH’s new cancer treatment centre. Painted in oils, the single portrait will not require lengthy sitting. Paul will visit the sitter to take photographs.

Sir Don McCullin CBE is one of our greatest living photographers. In a career spanning 50 years, he has captured the poverty of London’s East End and the horrors of war. Alongside uncompromising photojournalism, he has produced artfully arranged still lifes, moving landscapes and insightful portraits. This photograph is of a favourite view of Creech Hill near to McCullin’s home in Somerset. ‘The land feels alive and ancient and I never tire of standing in an open field, in the ever-changing winter light, to shoot it,’ he says.

Cooper & Gorfer is an award-winning artistic collaboration between Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer. Both are photographers by training but, since starting to work together eleven years ago, they construct their works like paintings – distorting proportions, using stylised poses and rigorous staging. Tintin, Lisa and the Key of Paper was created after interviewing Sami women in northern Sweden in 2016. Tintin and Lisa are part of of a reindeer herding family and the image explores the protection of heritage alongside modern influences.

Nick Cudworth’s studio at the end of Walcot Street has been a Bath landmark since it opened in 1999. A practising artist for 35 years, Nick also enjoyed an early career in music as a pianist for the band Siren. His paintings have been exhibited in London, Milan, New York and Winnipeg and his iconic views of Bath buildings are as well known as his landscapes, still lives and portraiture. In ‘Second thoughts’ he revisits a scene in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire used in a previous print and pairs it with a still life of a vase of poppies which casts the same shadow as the tree.

Peter Brown is one of the most renowned recorders of the city of Bath. Affectionately known as ‘Pete the Street’, Peter Brown is a familiar sight on the streets of Bath since he came to live in the city 24 years ago. Rarely painting in the studio, he prefers to paint landscapes outside, often setting up his easel in the most inclement of weathers. This painting shows the view of the Royal Crescent through the famous beech trees in Victoria Park although Peter Brown points out ‘I never knew why I called it ‘Five Beeches’ because there are only four!’

Peter Hayes creates sculptures using ceramics, bronze, glass, marble and stone from his studio on Bath’s Cleveland Bridge. During his career, he has created commissions for office spaces, hotels, yachts and private homes. His work has been exhibited from Cornwall to California and New York to the Netherlands. Having lived and travelled in Africa and India, he is ‘naturally drawn to shapes of artefacts and objects from other cultures and other times but that remain timeless.’ He adds: ‘My main aim in my work is not to compete with nature, but for the work to evolve within the environment.’

LIVE AUCTION item with bids welcomed online. To register interest in bidding for this or any other artwork please email hello@hopeball.co.uk.

Twinhoe-based artist Richard Twose has been collecting major awards over the last few years. He was runner up in the prestigious National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award in 2014 for his portrait of Jean Woods. More recently, in 2016, he was the winner of the Open Award of the Royal West of England Academy.

Manolo Blahnik CBE, Bath resident, is one of the world’s most famous shoe designers. His footwear is worn by celebrities the world over including Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Victoria Beckham and that queen of fashion herself, Anna Wintour.

heels with his own hands. The shoe in this print was an exclusive fantasy shoe which was never sent into production but is a classic example of his signature stiletto designs.

John Piper (1903-1992) is one of Britain’s most famous 20th century artists. Famed for his paintings and prints of the British landscape, particularly churches and monuments, Piper is also famous for his work as official war artist in the Second World War and for designing stained glass, most notably for Coventry Cathedral.

This print of Long Melford Church shows one of the great Suffolk wool churches built in the 15th century.

Often referred to as the ‘Godfather of British Pop Art’, Sir Peter BlakeCBE RA has been involved in such iconic projects as the album cover for the Beatles’ ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. This limited edition ‘Dazzle, 2016’ print was created for last year’s Liverpool Biennial contemporary art festival and contains many of the classic recurring symbols in Blake’s work such as a star, target and a rainbow. The project followed his 2015 commission to transform the Mersey Ferry into a moving artwork in a project called ‘Everybody Razzle Dazzle’.